Hi Folks.
This looks like a good forum for someone like me who is building their 1st boat. It is the Mississippi paddle steamer Robt E Lee. I have made RC aircraft before but this is my 1st boat it is starting to take shape but up until now I have only roughed out the hull and started shaping the lower deck, this boat will be powered by a gem Horizontal 2 cylinder steam engine with a 4" gas fired boiler, I am about to start mounting the engine and boiler onto the machine tray and get it plumbed. My next item of interest is the paddle wheels they are 180mm OD, I don't know if I should make them or buy them, Float a Boat in Melbourne have 2 types at this size but I also have a drawing of some feather type wheels if I want to spend the time and go that way any recommendations would be appreciated. When I first bought my plans they were to the scale of 1:96 1/8"=1'0" but I had them blown up by 50% this gives me a hull length of about 1400mm. I am making the hull out of 2 slabs of Jelutong timber 50mm thick it started out at 13kg but by just roughing it out it is now down to 6kg, I added another 20m to the depth of the hull to compensate for the weight of the engine and boiler I hope this will be enough. This will be a fairly long build as I am still working 6 days a week until retirement next year. The photo that I have posted is of the boat that I hope to finish up with. Any comments would be appreciated. I will post the rest of this build on the construction forum.